As is well known and understood, leg strength and stability are important factors in enhancing one's jumping abilities--especially as are employed in the Ballet, as well as in such sporting events as basketball, volleyball, track (e.g., the long jump, the high jump, the triple jump, etc.), as well as in cheerleading. As is also well known and understood, various equipments and apparatus have been designed over the years to enable a person to exercise, train and develop those muscles and ligaments as would enable the person to improve his or her performance in that athletic (or generally, physical) activity aside from being on the actual playing field of endeavor, itself. Weight training machines have gotten the most attention over the years--as education and specialized knowledge have developed as to the needs for proper conditioning to ever improve physical performance. Typical--and, perhaps the most widely known--of these devices are the Nautilus-type machines in which various weights and configurations are utilized in enhancing muscular strength. However, little if any attention has been given to developing apparatus that can be employed to exercise leg muscles for vertical jump activities.
As will be appreciated, those apparatus that have been developed over the recent past have usually been of a combination design, wherein different sets of muscles are, of necessity, exercised, hardened and/or stretched at the same time, simultaneously. Thus, with the weight-training devices, for example, not only are a user's shoulder muscles strengthened through a lifting activity, but leg muscles, of necessity, are strengthened simultaneously in these "snatch", "lift" and "press" activities. With rowing machines, similarly, leg, upper chest, arm and back muscles are also involved in a singular activity. On the other hand, where enhanced vertical-jump activities are to be dealt with, it could be a detriment if other parts of the body were worked upon simultaneously with the strengthening of appropriate leg muscles--certainly, for example, a ballerina with a shoulder and back musculature would not fit the desired mold--nor would a high jumper, for example, desired broad, thick chest or arm musculature where every additional millimeter of body increases the changes of dislodging the bar attempted to be cleared.
In accordance with the present invention, therefore, it would be desirable to provide, first of all, apparatus whose primary purpose is to enable a user to enhance his, or her, vertical jump prowess. It is another objective to provide such apparatus which concerns itself with the unique strengthening of the muscles and ligaments in question, without significantly affecting other parts of the human skeletal structure. As with training for such events as cheerleading, long jump, and ballet--which are typically practiced alone, and on an individual basis--it is yet another objective to provide apparatus to carry out these goals, in an uncomplicated manner, using a few moving parts as is possible, and which can be utilized in a home environment. As will most obviously be understood, it is another objective of the invention to provide such apparatus which can enhance the leg muscle and ligament strength at a controlled rate, set by the user in training, and additionally restricting the possibility of experiencing ballistic movement during the exercise range of motion.